Symbolism of Kate’s Bouquet

In the spirit of all the Royal Wedding hoopla (read: insanity) I add this post because I like flowers and love looking at the symbolic and historical significance of anything. I wonder how much the bouquet and flowers cost? I mean the whole thing cost millions and millions so what’s a few 100 grand for flowers right?

Source: Lainey Gossip ( from some official press release for the royal dress, bouquet etc)

The Bride’s Bouquet

The bouquet is a shield-shaped wired bouquet of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, sweet William and hyacinth. The bouquet was designed by Shane Connolly and draws on the traditions of flowers of significance for the Royal Family, the Middleton family and on the Language of Flowers.

The flowers’ meanings in the bouquet are:

Lily-of-the-valley – Return of happiness

Sweet William – Gallantry
Hyacinth – Constancy of love

Ivy: Fidelity; marriage; wedded love; friendship; affection

Myrtle: the emblem of marriage; love.

The bouquet contains stems from a myrtle planted at Osborne House,
Isle of Wight, by Queen Victoria in 1845, and a sprig from a plant grown from
the myrtle used in The Queen’s wedding bouquet of 1947.

The tradition of carrying myrtle begun after Queen Victoria was given a nosegay containing myrtle by Prince Albert’s grandmother during a visit to Gotha in Germany. In the same year, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought Osborne House as a family retreat, and a sprig from the posy was planted against the terrace walls, where it continues to thrive today.

The myrtle was first carried by Queen Victoria eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, when she married in 1858, and was used to signify the traditional innocence of a bride

For a picture of what the bouquet looks like click here

What do you see?

I just did a consult at a client’s house and I asked them through out the assessment “what do you see?” . I was encouraging them to look at their space as if it were for the first time. This is hard to do but by stopping and taking a look at a few key spots in your home you can “see” what may be stopping you or slowing you down.

Here are 3 areas or sight lines you can take in and truly “see”  (these are areas  in your home as opposed to outside, so you can more easily shape and control them):

1. Walk outside the front door. Close the door behind you. Close your eyes. Take 3 deep belly breaths. Open your eyes, open the front door and walk in. What do you see? How do you feel? Do you see lots of crap everywhere and does that stress you out? Or is it generally uninspiring? Now ask yourself what you would like to change?

2. Bathroom. Walk in. What do you feel? Do you want to linger there or just get out? Add freshness: colour, flowers, plants and new towels (or at least clean ones). Keep the toilet seat down! Even if you don’t buy into Feng Shui it is just plain ugly to see into the toilet.

Inexpensive way to add colour and inspiration

3. Lie down in bed look around. First, you should be able to see the door. What else do you see - maybe a big chest of drawers covered in clutter? Or maybe a big black TV screen? Remember the first thing you see when you wake up can either energize you or deplete you. Tip: cover the TV in the bedroom with a pretty piece of coordinating fabric when not in use.

A great way to wake up.

Look. Feel. Change. Use your gut. You know what you like and what inspires you. Also clean and clear the space – no one likes useless clutter. If you can’t do it through out the house at least start with removing clutter from the three sight lines above.

Stuff: do we really need more of it?

Again in the spirit of this week’s theme Be Accessible I am continuing to offer people options and ways to open up there spaces and lighten the load. You may have heard the saying: the more stuff you own the more stuff owns you. Makes sense right? car payments, mortgage, credit card payments… This stuff starts to consume us and define us so what can you let go of.

Again this is back to decluttering and removing unwanted and redundant things in your life and space. There is an old Chinese saying “If you want change in your life, move 27 things.” So maybe just start by removing 3 things (recycling, donating or throwing out) – maybe 3 pieces of clothing you don’t wear. Try getting rid of  with 3 small things everyday for 9 days. And see what shifts in your life…

Boost the chi with a windchime

So you have cleared out your front entrance, organized your shoes and other crud so now visitors can access your home without tripping over anything. Chi is also able to enter the home smoothly and free of encumbrances.

Today’s tip to enhance the chi and make your home accessible to new opportunities is to hang a wind chime by the front door. The vibrations and music will cleanse the chi making it positive and invigorating.

Live your Moksha – Week 2 Be Accessible

So I have signed up for the 7 week Moksha challenge to Live My Moksha. Each week there is a different theme – this past week it was Be Healthy. I gave up wine (well all alcohol) and I took up using my juicer to make Kale, carrot, apple and ginger juice instead. I have managed to practice most days as well. This week it is Be Accessible.  The Moksha yoga practice is made to be accessible for everyone, all levels and yoga abilities. But accessibility can also be about making yourself accessible to others and about how you show up. Are you judgemental? Do you open yourself up to others or do you close yourself from new opportunities?  This week I will be trying  to be more accessible and open to new people and setting aside judgement. I can be a little judgey. So there’s that, but I will also be using Feng Shui to be more accessible: to open myself up to new possibilities and to remove any blocks that may be stopping me from being accessible to new energy and positive chi. So everyday I will blogging about what I am doing to make my home and space more open and accessible to positive chi.

The first step will be to clean up my front entrance – that is going to be a Sunday afternoon project. Once I declutter and organize I will add some chi enhancers to the front entrance.

So if you are looking for tangible, physical ways to engage in Be Accessible (beyond the asana) try clearing the clutter – make your space more open so you can more open to new possibility. Want to know what some different types of clutter can symbolism and what they may be stopping you from doing? Want to know what basement junk and kitchen clutter symbolism? Read my article on how to clear the clutter.

Splashes of green and the latest shoot…

Yesterday we shot my last Steven & Chris segment of the season. It will about quick Feng Shui fixes you can do in your own home. It airs in a couple of weeks so I will repost when it does. Here are some great pics of the team shooting – and our little helper.

Now she is ready for her close up…

The real star of the show

 

Also here are some examples of how to bring green/wood element into a space in little hits.

 

Myrtle -sacred plant of Venus and symbol of love

I loved this plant. Great colour and shape.

Green buddha and new toss pillows

The toss pillows are great because they have many elemental colours in them: green/wood, black/water, white/metal and browns/earth. They had that chartreuse green - just enough to tie it back to the other hits of green in the room.

The home office – top 3 things you need to do

During our field shoot from the April 6th show

1. Command position – face the door or entryway of the office. The more you see the more you command.

2. Support yourself – have your back to a wall. Also add an image of a mountain that will give you additional support during those trying times.

3. Add some red – great way to give yourself that extra push and inspiration with the fire element. Powerful and vibrant energy will keep you on task.

1, 2, 3 - new energy is coming in...

Check out my appearance in Steven & Chris on CBC. Episode 117. http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/videos.html

Mid century redux and acid green

So back to my running theme of spring renewal. I just came across this photo from Sanderson UK’s new 1950′s inspired collection. Not sure how I feel about some of the colourways and patterns in the collection – I love mid century modern, but it is almost too much of a retread.  I do love the acid green/yellow and I think it is fitting to add it in my collection of fun ways to add green/spring/energy into a space.

Spring has sprung, now bring it into the home

So we are continuing to celebrate the arrival of spring with what we eat and put in our body’s. Not that you would know it was spring today – the weather has not been in sync with my spring fever. Hopefully the weather will turn around soon. Anyway. So what else can you do to detox and prep for the warmer weather. How about bringing spring into the home. I have just refreshed my home with splashes of limey green and chartreuse. It is fresh and vibrant but it also represents the wood element. The wood element is connected with spring, new beginnings and growth. It also is linked with health and family.  So add a little green if you are feeling low energy or maybe you are starting a new exercise or diet regime, what a great way to symbolize your new endeavour. Next post - some examples of ways to bring the wood element into the home….

Spring fever and shaking that winter yin energy.

Even though Spring officially kicked off a couple weeks ago I haven’t felt the Spring bug. Over the past few days I have been bitten. This means I usually update my wardrobe with a few new pieces, get my hair cut and buy a pair of new warm weather shoes. Spring is about growth and about shedding the heavy yin energy of the winter. Detoxing is a great way to get rid of that stagnant energy – No I don’t mean those crazy detox diets which I think are an excuse for an eating disorder. No I mean adding fresh leafy greens to your meals, maybe trying to cut out meat or animal product out your diet for a few days and see how that effects your body and mind. My favorite thing to do is to use my fab juicer to my greens in. A great, delicious juice recipe that I got from Kale a local vegan restaurant is: a big handful of kale, 2 apples, a couple of slices of ginger to taste and a 1/4 of a lemon (peeled).  Run the apples through last to get everything through.

The next few posts will be about spring and new growth and how to bring it into your space with Feng Shui…